Yeah it's Kaitlyn's turn!!!

Congratulations to Keith and Keri on their newest addition Corgan Alexander!

Two healthy babies down and two to go. I'm so ready now that both Angelle and Keri have their little ones on the outside! Hurry up Kaitlyn!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow...it's been five years

Joe and I celebrated our five year anniversary on Friday. It is so strange how sometimes it feels like we've been together forever and other times I can't believe we've been married five years. Well after reading Keri's post about the Melting Pot I was super excited about going to the Melting Pot. Joe suggested that we not splurge because money is so tight right now...so after being a little disappointed I agreed that he was right. We shouldn't be indulging ourselves right now...we should save for the baby. He suggested PF Changs much less expensive.

Well he told me he made reservations for 6:45. He suprised me though and ended up taking me to the Melting Pot anyway. He had done some side work for somebody and used the money he made for me. Awwww!!! I love my hubbie! When we got there he even had gotten me balloons and a roses. I wish I had my camera but by now you all know that of course I didn't.

We had a really nice time. When we first got there our waitress spilled Joe's coke all over him but they definitely made up for it. It was such a nice night.

My parents actually watched Zach the whole weekend. It was our little version of a "babymoon". We didn't really do anything but relax. We went to see Superbad on Saturday. It was very funny!

So thanks to Mom and Dad and thanks to Joe for a fantastic weekend. I love my family! It is very weird though, being away from Zach. I missed him like crazy and I was only away from him for 48 hours. I'm such a dork!

On a separate note, Zach is doing so great at daycare! I'm so glad that he is with the older children. Joe usually drops him off at school though, but today I did because I had my 34 week checkup at 11:00 so I kept him at home with me for some really great snuggle time. On the way to school he fell asleep. He was still sleepy when I took him in. When I went to set him down on the playground with the other kids he looks right at me and says in the most pathetic and gutwrenching voices, "please stay mommy, please, I love you." What do you say to that??? I of course had to leave and spent the entire carride to the Dr. crying! Again, I'm a dork!

I called to check on him after my appointment and she said he stopped crying like five minutes after I left. Whew!! I know this but it is still hard!

Finally, as to the Dr. appointment, everything looks good. I'm ready though!!

Congrats to Mike, Angelle, and Leah on baby Erin. They are an inspiration to the rest of us!!

Progress!

So Zach has been in the three year old class room at daycare for two weeks. He is doing wonderful! He has not had one problem since he has been in that class. They actually discipline the kids in that class. If they misbehave they get sad faces drawn on the board and when they do what they are supposed to they get smiley faces. If they get three frown faces they start to lose privilidges. So far, Zach only has smiley faces!!

This is such a relif for me. I had been dreading taking him to school for weeks. I'm so glad that everything is finally working out. I knew he wasn't a little demon (well most of the time anyway). He's two, all of you mom's know what a two year old can be like. I love going to pick him up now. He is always happy and playing contently whenever I go to pick him up. He always makes me come in his class and play a little while before we leave. He never did that in the other class. He was always ready to get the heck out of there.

On a different note, I think Zach really understands about the baby now. I love reading all of the blogs about the crazy things that our kids are saying. Yesterday when I went to pick him up from daycare a woman was there with her newborn. She asked Zach if he was ready to have our baby and he said, "My sista will be here soon". I almost died laughing. We should definitely have a tape recorder to catch all of these little quotes.

Is my child really a bully?

So last week Zach was having a rough week at daycare again. They told me he was hitting/kicking and basically having screaming fits all day long. So I had to see for myself. Zach does have occasional meltdowns at home but they are usually short. So I went to the daycare and spent about 4 hours. I know that Zach wasn't acting the same because I was there but I got to watch how the teachers interacted with the children. Zach's class has 22 kids in it from ages 1-2.99. This is a huge age difference. Zach is probably the oldest child (at least he acted like it). My first observation was that the teachers didn't have any authority at all. There were 3 teachers in the room. Two of the teachers mostly just held the kids and played with individual kids while the other teacher did the activities. The first activity was exercising. All of the kids started getting toys out of the bins while she was trying to get them to dance. She said twice "no toys" but all of the kids got toys out anyway and she didn't make them put them away. I guess she figured it was a losing battle. Isn't this bad? I think you have to be consistent if you want the kids to listen. You actually have to enforce what you say.

Moving on to lunch...she told the kids to stay in their chairs several times...again they got up and nothing happened. So I'm thinking Zach doesn't listen to them because nothing happens if he doesn't. He also is extremely bored. I think the age difference is too great. Most of the kids are still babies compared to Zach. None of the kids talked at least they didn't while I was there. In the four hours that I was there the only "activities" they did were a 15 minute art project and about 10 minutes of dancing. The rest of the time was spent hand washing, diapering, feeding, etc. There was so much time where Zach was just sitting there.

So I had made up my mind that I was going to take him somewhere else. I found a great place on Friday. I was going to start him there next week. When Joe went to drop Zach off at daycare yesterday they had moved Zach up to the 3 year old class though. I had suggested that he might be bored in the other class on several occasions but they never agreed. They actually asked if we watched a lot of violent television at home. Are you kidding me? Of course we sit at home all day and watch Die Hard and Rambo?????? I actually am extremely careful about what we watch. If it isn't dancing or PBS Zach doesn't watch it. Anyway I digress...so when we went to pick him up yesterday he had an excellent day. He played nicely all day. I told them we'll give him two weeks in that class. If he isn't doing great he is starting the new school. I'll let you know how it goes.

My little reader...

So I know that Zach isn't really reading but I like to pretend that he is. I've been reading Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton to Zach for a few months now. He always finishes the words for me or "reads" along with me. Last night though he told me he wanted to read to me. He "read" every single word as I turned the pages. It was so amazing. He doesn't pronounce all of the works exactly right but he says something that sounds like the word for every single word.

I of course had to call Joe into the room so he could read to Joe also. Why didn't I think to get the video camera out for this event. I really need to be better with the video camera. All of my friends capture all of these great every day moments on video. I never remember though unless it is for a holiday or something.

I had my 30 week Dr.'s appt. yesterday. Everything is looking good. I'm very glad he asked me what hospital I was going to deliver at. I had taken a virtual tour of the hospital right by my house. It seems very nice and I was going to take an actual tour next week. I asked him which hospital he recommended (he delivers at 2 hospitals because they are so close). I had never even considered the other hospital. Well it turns out both of them are basically the same in all aspects EXCEPT at the hospital I was planning on delivering at they only offer private rooms on a first come first serve basis. He said there is no preference given and the likelihood of having a private room is not very good. When I had Zach we had to pay an extra $100 for a private room but it was definitely worth it. Coral Springs doesn't do that because they say it is discriminatory to people on Medicaid.

Again...WHAT???? Discriminatory! Ok I guess I'm being selfish but I really can't imagine sharing a room. I remember the first night in the hospital with Zach I cried myself. We were having a really hard time with breastfeeding. He was in the room with me the whole night and we both were awake the entire night. I can't imagine if another mom was in there "trying" to sleep.

So needless to say unless Northwest is awful which I highly doubt that is where Kaitlynn will be born. I need a private room.

My feet and my hands are supposed to be where?

The hospital where I'm having Kaitlynn offers a prenatal yoga class twice a week. I was very nervous about going but I loved it. Most of the women in the class had been before so they knew all of the poses. I felt a little awkward at first but by the end of the class I felt much more comfortable. I actually wish they offered it more than twice a week. It is amazing how good it feels when I'm finished. On the nights that I don't have Yoga I feel lethargic and unmotivated.

Not only am I loving the way it makes my body feel but it also fills me with energy. It is funny because the nights that I don't have Yoga I get nothing done. All I want to do is plop down on the couch once I'm done with dinner. On the nights that I'm out of the house for a couple of hours I actually am much more productive once I come home. I get the laundry done and the cleaning.

One of the other preggo's in the class with me last week was 38 weeks pregnant and she was still there. She was huffing and puffing but she said it still made her feel better. I'm hoping I can keep it up until the end.

I'm also hoping that starting this little exercise routine will get me in the habit so after Kaitlynn is born I will keep it up and lose some weight.

HIVE reunion

A few weeks ago we had our annual reunion with our friends from high school and college. It was really great to be able to spend time with everyone. One of our friends took some really great pictures of all of the kids.

It is funny because I never thought that Zach would go in a pool without me taking him in. We have a baby gate around our pool but I truly believed that Zach wouldn't go in without us. Well when we were loading up the car to leave North Carolina Zach took a belly flop right into the pool out front. I'm actually not sure if he jumped in or fell in but either way...lucky for us we were out there. I guess you never know what kids are going to do. Erica got some really cute pictures of him playing in the pool though.



I'm very thankful that it seems Zach has his daddy's athletic ability. He had such a great time playing soccer with the kids and the big kids. He really seems to love soccer. He's been playing in the yard for the past couple of weeks and he is actually really good at dribbling the ball. I can't wait to get him in little league.

It's a girl

We just had our sonogram today and the doctor said he is pretty certain it's a girl. He said that it was still a little early for him to guarantee it but he felt pretty certain.

He said he wants me to have another sonogram because he couldn't get a picture of all 4 chambers of the babies heart. He said not to worry because it looked fine but all of the doctors wanted to see all four chambers just to make sure now.

We are very excited to be having a healthy baby. Her name is going to be Kaitlynn Marie.

I had already started looking at nursery stuff and this particular girl's bedding set has been my favorite since the first time I saw it. It was the first one I liked. I'm going to keep looking for awhile but I don't think I'm going to find anything I like better. Joe isn't that fond of it. He said it is overflowing of "girlness" but I think that is what I like about it. The whole house is either little boy or gender neutral. There is something about an ultra feminine room for a little girl that really appeals to me. Let me know what you guys think.

Gender Identification Date

I had my 16 week appointment yesterday and I scheduled my sonogram for May 2Nd. Joe and I are hoping we have better luck than our friends. It seems that these second babies are being stubborn.

I really don't know what I'm having. When I first found out I was pregnant I thought the baby has to be a girl but now I just have no idea. I can't wait to find out to start planning. How did people go through this back when our mom's were having us. I can't imagine not being able to find out. Evidently my mother's intuition isn't very strong these days.

"Real Mom Tag"

I know this went around awhile ago but here is my attempt to describe a "real mom".

A real mom knows what it is like to get 8 hours of sleep in a week instead of a night.

A real mom knows that there is nothing better than when your little one says I love you.

A real mom learns that your house will never be quite as clean as it used to be and you don't care.

A real mom can talk on the phone, fold laundry, soothe a crying child and cook dinner at the same time.

A real mom looks forward to everything so she can see it through the eyes of her child. Holidays, vacations, and every day events are more fun now.

A real mom doesn't care that the shoulder of every shirt she owns has been covered in boogies.

A real mom has read a favorite bedtime story so many times that she doesn't need to look at the book anymore.

and Finally A real mom has had to say things they'd never thought would come out of their month...no don't eat the dog food, we can't drink the water from the toilet, and we can't go for a walk naked and the best is you can't saw the dog (he loves his Bob the Builder tool set).

Better late than never

I was going to post this earlier but if you read the prior post you can probably figure out why it took me a month to post this.

Zach had such a good time on Easter. We got up with Joe's parents on Easter and went to church. Zach was so good. I was really impressed. I figured he would get fidgety at a long Catholic mass but he was so quiet. He loves music so I think there was just enough singing that it kept him entertained.

He also LOVED hunting for eggs. He wasn't really into it last year but this year he couldn't get enough. I hid little matchbox cars and jelly beans in his eggs and he had a blast.

On Saturday we colored eggs. He also had such a good time with this. He got a little carried away with the crayon towards the end but it was hysterical. He was having a good time.

Priorities

Well tax season is finally over. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have taken another day. I have been struggling with life balance issues since Zachary was born but this tax season completely put all of my priorities in order.

Before I had Zach I had aspirations of being partner at our firm. I didn't care how hard I had to work or how many hours I had to work. It was worth it. It was all I knew. Then along comes Zach...complete 180. I don't care if I make partner all I really want to do is stay home and be a mom. Why is it that having a child makes your entire life change? You just have no idea how much you or your life will change until your little angel is here. I never dreamed that I would have aspirations of being just like my mom. I don't want to miss anything. I want to stay home and bake cookies for Easter and volunteer in his classroom and coach his little league team.

Well South Florida is a pretty expensive place to live so we've decided to put the house on the market. Who cares if you have a nice house with a yard for your child to play in if you are never home to play with him in it. I'm not sure what we are going to do or where we are going to go. I'm having a hard time with that right now. If we move we will be leaving more than our home we will be leaving my family. I LOVE that Zachary is so close to my parents. He sees them on a weekly basis. I grew up near my grandparents and I'm so close with them. The downside of staying is that we will be in a cramped apartment. If we moved to a less expensive city we could afford a nice house.

I know some mom's can do it all but I can't. I can't give everything I want to Zachary and baby #2 and continue to work the way I am. So once we sell the house I'm going to be able to hopefully cut back to part time. I would love to not be able to work at all but that just isn't possible right now. We are going to do everything we can to make that happen. Hopefully soon I'll be able to work entirely from home and then it won't matter if I have to work.

I'm sorry for the ranting but...I was feeling a little overwhelmed through tax season and working 70 hours per week that it had been building up for a little while.

Was that an organ?

(Not for the queasy)

We have been pretty luck in the Stewart house lately. Zachary hasn't brought home any nasty little bugs from daycare in awhile. Saturday night, however, he thought it had been long enough. We were out to dinner when he decided to throw up all over me. Oranges and cottage cheese (well it started out as milk...but we know what it turns into)! Why is it that children always throw up milk. Zach has on occasion thrown up just because he swallowed something wrong so I thought that was what had probably happened. I went out to the car and changed his clothes. He seemed fine so I went back into the restaurant since we were out with my parents and grandfather.

Five minutes later, again all over me. Luckily he stopped long enough to get home and fortunately didn't have another spell until the next morning. He actually was completely better by Sunday night. Thank goodness it didn't last long, for Zach anyway.

Monday I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I felt really bad. I thought it was just pregnancy nausea so I sat there a little longer hoping it would go away. It didn't. I left work on Monday and barely made it home. I got the same thing as Zach but I guess because I am pregnant it made it SO much worse. Stomach bug and pregnancy nausea is a bad bad thing. It only lasted a couple of days but let me tell you I thought one of my organs was going to come up a couple of times.

We are all doing well and everything is back to normal now. Luckily I had my 12 week appointment yesterday so the doctor could check and make sure that everything was OK. We heard the babies heartbeat this time so I was very happy.

Joe and I can't decide on our boy's name so it would be much easier if the baby was a girl. We both like Alexander Joseph for a boy but I want to call him Xander. Joe HATES that so we're stuck. We both agree on Kaitlynn Marie for a girl though. We wanted a family name but we didn't really like any of our family names so Kaitlynn Marie is a combination of the first letters of both of our parents, grandparents and sisters first initials.

What is that?

Zach has officially entered the age of questions?

His favorite question is "what is that?". Every where we go "mommy, what is that?" Driving in the car, grocery shopping, cleaning house. Mommy What is that? I love it but I feel like he is no longer a baby. I've been trying to avoid that thought for the past few months but it is getting harder and harder to avoid. He has turned the "big boy" corner and he is not looking back.

I was reading to him last night and I realized that I am always pointing to things in his books and asking, "Zach, what is that?". It is amazing how they pick up on things you do without you even realizing it.

Zach's Day at the Pool

The clubhouse at my parents new house has a water-playground for kids. It is so cute! I think Zach would have played out there for two whole days if we let him. Melissa keeps telling me that he needs a bathing suit but it is SO much easier to dress him in this than to keep putting lotion all over his body every hour. I love this picture.

Aghh!!!!!!!!!

So after reading Kerri's blog the other day I couldn't have imagined how scary that must have been. Well...two weeks later I'm in the same position.

I called my doctor because I had a little bit of spotting (which I had during my first pregnancy) so I thought he was going to say no big deal. He told me to come in the next day just to check and make sure everything was OK. Well he examined me and said everything seemed allright but he wanted to check the heartbeat. No heartbeat! He tells me to go to the hospital to have an ultrsound done right away. I was completely freaked out. I had to sit in the waiting room of the hospital for over an hour (bladder way too full to wait over an hour!). Of course I was freaking out the entire time. When they finally called my name I was a wreck. Joe had offered to come with me but I told him no. I was afraid that by having him come it meant something was wrong...scewed logic but whatever. So everything is OK...the baby was too small to hear the heartbeat. The ultrasound tech said there was no way he could have heard the heartbeat. I got to see his/her heart beating in his/her little chest though. AMAZING!

Before the ultrasound I was completly terrified of having Baby #2. The ultrasound and scare definitely put things in perspective.

On a happier note, Zach has also moved to his new big boy bed. He LOVES it! I was so terrified that moving him out of his crib would mess up his excellent sleep habits. I brought it home with the thought that we would just leave it next to his crib until he was ready to sleep in it. He loved it though. He had gone to a couple of stores to help us pick it out and he kept climbing in them all to test them out. The first night he helped us assemble it with his tools and then as soon as we put the mattress in he crawled in and said sleepy time. He has slept in it ever since. No problems!

The crib is now ready for the baby! Goal one of two down! We are still working on potty training. Zach isn't really into it though. He will say he has to go but he never makes it to the potty. I think he just wants to get my attention. By the time we get his pants off he just wants to run around the house naked. This isn't usually a problem but I've discovered naked toothbrushing isn't the best idea (at least for little boys) :-) I'm not pushing him yet...hopefully he'll catch on to the potty thing on his own.

Zach goes to the dentist

So...have any of you taken the kiddies to the dentist yet? Oh my gosh. I knew taking Zach to the dentist wasn't going to be fun but never in my dreams was I prepared for what was to come. Zach fell and chipped one of his teeth so I wanted to take him to the dentist. I know that you are supposed to take them once they turn one but well Zach doesn't like for me to brush his teeth. I knew the dentist was going to be a nightmare so I put it off as long as I could.

He is so independent now. He loves to brush his own teeth but he doesn't want me or Joe to do it.

So we walk into the dentist and there are a bunch of toys. He was having a great time. I'm thinking great...this isn't going to be so bad. Well then they call us back. I keep telling him how much fun it is to go to the dentist and what a big boy he is now. Again fine...well then they decide to take an x-ray of the chipped tooth. This involves me holding him down while they put the x-ray vest on me and him and then try to get him to bite down on that little thingee. Yeah, this didn't work. The hygienist kept telling me to wrap my legs around his, hold his hands with one hand and his head with my chin and tilt his head with my other hand. (Yes, I did feel like a contortionist). If any of you have tried to hold down a kicking and screaming baby you know how well this worked. The hygienist then decides she is going to have another tech hold him while she takes the xray. They asked me to stand behind his chair so he couldn't see me. He kept screaming "mommy, mommy". Needless to say I'm crying at this point. I'm such a wimp. I knew they weren't hurting him but still it is awful to hear them like that. Finally the dentist says it is ok to skip the xray, which I was about to walk out of the office with Zach at that point so it couldn't have come soon enough.

The rest of the visit was bad but not as bad. I had to hold him on my lap with his legs around me for the cleaning and examination. More crying but nothing like the xray. I know that no permanent damage was done because as soon as they were done he was blowing all of them kisses goodbye and giving them High Fives. The hygienist told me that in her seven years she has never seen a stronger kid. Joe was very excited about this compliment but I'm not sure that is a good thing.

I'm not sure what I could have done to make this a better visit. I talked about the appointment for two weeks before hand and explained what was going to happen. I would love to hear any suggestions for the next time.

Joys of motherhood

It is amazing how all of the little things are the things you enjoy the most. If you would have told me two years ago that the highlight of my day would be just sitting and watching a toddler I couldn't have imagined it. Zach is turning into a little person.

I can't believe he is going to be two next month. It is so cliche but seriously time goes by so fast. He is doing so much now it is amazing. He is such a sponge. You don't realize how much they pick up on.

Zach is singing now. Since he could throw a ball I've always counted one,two, three, well about three weeks ago he counted to three when he was going to throw the ball to me. It is so funny how it seems like over night they figure something out. He can now count to 10 and sing the ABC's. He doesn't always get all of the letters or numbers but he loves to sing them. Just don't ask him to do it. He wants to do it when he wants to do it.

My mom always told me that before she had my younger sister she was so worried that she wouldn't be able to love a second child as much as she loved the first. I always thought she was insane. Why would she think something like that? I totally understand how she felt now. I love Zach so much. I know once baby #2 comes along I'll love them just as much but it just doesn't seem possible.

Every day is an adventure and every day he is doing something new. I love waking up wondering what is in store for today. He is such a lovable little guy now too. He is always hugging me and kissing me and saying luv you.

Ok, I think I'm done bragging now. I know all of you other mother's can appreciate what I'm saying though.

Bilingual Baby and Baseball

Last week when I was in Target trying on some new workout clothes Zach picked up my shoe and handed it to me and said "zapato". He said it as clear as day. It completely caught me off guard. Could Zach have just talked to me in Spanish? It was amazing. All of the woman at Zach's school speak Spanish. I know most of them speak English too but his favorite speaks hardly any English.

I took three years of Spanish in high school so needless to say my Spanish is not that good. Since then I've noticed Zach saying other Spanish words. A couple of days ago when he wanted more grapes he said "mas mas". Usually I can understand what Zach is trying to tell me, but sometimes I'll think he's just babbling but he looks like he knows exactly what he is saying. Could it be he is talking in Spanish and I just don't know what he is saying?

Last night we took Zach to his first baseball game. He absolutely loved the atmosphere. I'm not sure he watched 2 seconds of the game though. He loved walking up the ramp to our seats and all of the steps down to our seats. He is such a people watcher so of course all of the people around us kept him amazed for most of the game. The Marlins hit quite a few homeruns and he loved the fireworks after each one. I promise I'll post pictures.

During the game his shoe fell off and he again busted out with his Spanish. Mommy zapato...zapato. Well the people in front of us (Spanish speaking) heard this and thought it was hysterical. Then the woman started talking to him in Spanish. "Donde esta el zapato?" He bends down and hands her his shoe. How amazing! My little Zach is going to be bilingual. I guess I'm going to have to start working on my Spanish.

Dilemma????

When I went to pick Zach up yesterday from daycare I informed the owner that we were starting to potty train Zach. I wanted to let her know so they could help in the process. I also wanted to know if I could bring his "potty" in or if they had one he could use.

She told me he was too young to start potty training. To young...maybe but that is my decision right, not hers. I do think he is "young" but he is showing the signs. I don't expect that he'll be completely potty trained this week or maybe even this year but you have to start some where.

I would think they should support what I want to do. I love all of the teachers at Zach's school but that really made me mad. I'm sure it is more work for them once they start potty training but that is what I'm paying them for. What do you think?